


Traditions

by PatchworkIdeas



Series: GatheringFiKi's 12 Days of Christmas 2020 [14]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Not Related, Christmas Family Meet Up, Fantasy Religion, Fluff, M/M, Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 19:14:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28242198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkIdeas/pseuds/PatchworkIdeas
Summary: It's Kili's turn to host the Yule Festivities. Seeing an opportunity to bring their families together and give Fili his traditional Christmas experience again, Kili decides to just host both.At the same time.No one will notice the magic, right?
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: GatheringFiKi's 12 Days of Christmas 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2054739
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16
Collections: GatheringFiKi - 12 Days Of Christmas 2020





	Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by GatheringFiKi's gorgeous Photoset!
> 
> Shown here with permission, and the original post can be found on [Tumblr.](https://gatheringfiki.tumblr.com/post/638218764567101440/12-days-of-christmas-2020-day-10-stories)

* * *

“Do you think they’ll like it?”

Kili looked up from his own preparations, a warm smile on his face as he saw the decoration. Fili had gone all out - even gotten some fake snow, along with a Yule sign and some spirit gifts.

“It looks amazing! But are you sure your own folks will be okay with it? I don’t want them to feel alienated, especially as we can’t really tell them anything...”

Fili knew that, of course, and the reminder brought a bittersweet smile to his face. It had been hard getting permission to let Fili in on the secret, it would be impossible to do the same for his family.

“It’s okay. They won’t mind. My aunt once had a reindeer figure that was strangling santa, and my grandma found a whole set of Elvis as Santa and his Elves once. We are not especially traditional. If anything they’ll think it looks pretty. And as long as they don’t think I’m in some sort of dangerous cult it should be fine.”

Cult was a strong word, with lots of negative connections, but in a way Kili’s coven probably would count. They had their own traditions and believes and rituals - and rules, most of which Kili had broken when he brought Fili into the fold.

He didn’t regret it, despite the shit show that had followed.

He had almost been thrown out, stripped of his powers and his familiar taken from him, but Fili, always the diplomatic one, stubborn and loyal to a fault, had talked his coven around.

Kili didn’t have as much contact anymore as he used to, too much bad blood even with Fili reluctantly accepted among them - but holidays were sacred and there’s no way he could be who he was, keep doing what he loved, if he didn’t celebrate them with his coven.

And Fili, now part of the coven too, even without any magic to speak of, was required to take part as well.

It worked out most of the time, but Yule and Christmas lay too close together to celebrate both. Especially with how witches celebrated it - with a week long revelry.  
One of them would host, make sure everything was planned and provided.

This year, that honor would be theirs.

And like the rule breaker that Kili was, he had taken the opportunity to invite Fili’s family, consequences be darned. They were dears, to the last one, and Kili knew it weighed on Fili that he couldn’t spend Christmas with them anymore, as much as they made up for it the rest of the year - sometimes even at New Years, if they weren’t too tired after the Yule Rituals.

Fili’s mom had never done more than look disappointed before cheerfully declaring it okay, of course Kili would want to visit his own family at that time, far away as they were. Perhaps it was that easy acceptance that had made it so hard each year. They had accepted him into the family with an ease that had blown Kili away, all smiles and laughter and welcoming hugs.

So Kili had done what he did best - went for what he wanted and screw the consequences.

Mixed Christmas and Yule festivities it was.

His coven didn’t allow much variation, but they would have to deal with non-coven members around. And like Fili said, his family was incredibly accepting of anything strange and unusual.

That was probably why he and Fili had worked out in the first place anyway.

It was going to be fine.

-

“Breathe. In and out. You know, for someone who planned this whole thing, you aren’t very confident.”

Kili laughed against his will, and Fili’s smile bloomed, warm and soft and loving.

“I just want things to go well, for everyone to be calm and get along. I want you to be able to celebrate your way at least once, with all your family. Don’t tell mine, but I wish I hadn’t needed to invite them...”

“Oh hush, they aren’t that bad.” Fili tried to reassure him with a kiss on his forehead. “They are just...different. If nothing else my family is going to have the time of their life with all the shenanigans around.”

Luckily, none of Kili’s coven was around to hear either statement. Calling their rituals shenanigans would probably be considered even worse than Kili’s reluctance to celebrate with them.

It wasn’t that they were bad people per se - unlike some covens they didn’t deal with blood magic or sacrifices - but like most witches they were stuck in their ways and suspicious of outsiders.  
Luckily, this years full moon fell on Yule itself, three days before Christmas, when Fili’s family would arrive, so there would be no trouble when they ran through the woods besides their familiars. Kili had tried to put all the most unusual rituals first or after, leaving time for some hopefully innocent mingling of worlds over Christmas proper.

“And I don’t mind most of those. The food's always interesting, and while I can’t change into a wolf like you can, getting to ride you when you are like that is one hell of an experience. For which we are going to be late if we don’t join them soon. Think you can manage?”

The noise that left Kili’s throat was so close to a dog's whine that Venn, his wolf familiar, came around the corner to check if he was okay.  
The wolf was registered among humans as a mutt - maybe something Husky or German Shepard, mixed with one of those giant dogs - and Kili was always in awe how everyone just seemed to accept that - even complimented them on how similar to a wolf Venn looked.

If anyone were to see them hunt together tonight, there would be no doubt in them what he was, what all of them would be for the Yule Moon.  
It was a most sacred tradition, to celebrate the beginning and ending of a year, to run wild and free and pay their tribute to the ever changing and ever constant moon that governed the sea and guided the lost.

Perhaps Kili was most like a mutt among them, for he preferred the playing and running to the hunt, and always brushed his teeth after as soon as he could.

Raw meat never really sat well with him.

-

The day of reckoning. It was early yet, and most of the coven was asleep upstairs, wound around each other and sleeping off the nonstop three days of rituals and magic. Kili had hoped putting the most draining ones close together might stop any unnecessary magic mishaps while Fili’s family was around.

He just hoped the doorbell wouldn’t wake them yet. 

Dis, Fili’s mother, was quick to hug them both and insist she would help with Christmas dinner before everyone else arrived. Not that she thought they were incapable of course, but as she was usually the one who hosted Christmas dinners, she was well aware of how much work was involved.

The hours with her passed by in a happy blur, as they always seemed to. Kili had never met a warmer person than her, and she never failed to make him laugh out loud, wild and free, without a care in the world.

Kili loved Fili’s family, almost as much as he loved Fili himself. 

And perhaps that made a difference. 

He caught his uncle, head of the coven, lurking in the doorway, watching them. He didn’t join in the cooking, that was beneath him, but when everyone else came down later on they were surprisingly well behaved, and just a little bit odd, by human standards.

They let themselves be drawn into conversation with Fili’s countless aunts and uncles and nephews and nieces - even passing on some wisdom to the little ones.

Between both their families the house was full to bursting, with magical bedrooms added for Kili’s side so that they could all fit.

But none of Kili’s fears came true, and while some grumbled at the unfamiliar songs, loudly breaking out at random - they had warned Fili’s family that Kili’s wasn’t Christian, so at least the religious songs were mostly left out - no big fights broke out, and no one seemed to mind too much. Especially the human foods, cakes and cookies and mashed potatoes with gravy were gone faster than anyone could have anticipated. Kili’s aunt Fryda - the second most eccentric in the coven, following Kili - even joined them in the kitchen, to learn how to make those wonders herself.

Kili agreed with her, cookies were vastly superior to blood pudding.

Fili’s family meanwhile had the time of their lives it seemed, laughing and joking, accepting the odd bunch as they were and being fascinated by it all. Even questions that couldn’t be answered were taken in stride, and Kili caught more than one witch surreptitiously looking around before answering a question they probably shouldn’t have as the days went on.

But the highlight of it all was his uncle taking him aside at the end of the week.

“I did you wrong. You choose your mate well, human as he may be. He has been nothing but courteous of us and our ways, and his family is more accepting than I had ever thought humans could be. There are no hunters among them, I see that now. I’ll do my best to foster good relations in the future, as is only right after a joining of covens - of families. You did well.”

The giddy feeling that brought him stayed with him long after New Years, which most of the coven, now curious and much more open minded, spent with them. And if a few colorful spells went up with the fireworks, no one really minded anymore.

Kili broke boundaries, always had, but with Fili’s arms wrapped around him and their families joined in laughter, he was surer than ever that some things needed to be broken, needed to end, so that something better could grow.

And really, wasn't that what both Yule and New Years were all about?


End file.
